German term
eierlegende Wollmilchsau
Then there are (in dict.leo.org) •Swiss Army knife - die eierlegende Wollmilchsau (I have a few of those) •eierlegende Wollmilchsau "all singing and dancing"; and in another context "the pig of ... [subject field]".
Back in 2003 KudoZ has the "egg-laying jack-rabbit mule" and some others (incl. the above), but at the rate modern language is evolving, surely there must be something new about...
For a private (and certainly tongue in cheek) research project I would appreciate some input as to innovative, certainly weird or funny "translations" of the concept, or idea with the same dash of sarcasm and squirt of irony.
There must be somebody out there with a new and cool idea...
Also, for those colleagues conversant in Latin and Greek, maybe the "scientific" name (similar to the infamous "petrophagus loriotii") would come in handy.
| 3 | chimera |
Michael Martin, MA
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| 3 | the egg-laying, wool-producing dairy pig |
Nicole Schnell
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May 12, 2012 06:42: Nicole Schnell changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
May 12, 2012 09:23: Steffen Walter changed "Field (specific)" from "Other" to "Idioms / Maxims / Sayings"
PRO (3): Helen Shiner, Johanna Timm, PhD, Nicole Schnell
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Proposed translations
United States
Creativity wins in the long run
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) 
, English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
chimera
"A city that's a chimera of all the memories of the cities you have loved. But that city doesn't exist."
Typical exclamation: "But that"s a chimera!"
| neutral |
Helen Shiner
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(mythology) - unfortunately, a chimera has a known form - of sorts./I disagree; if it conveys a given image which is at odds to the GER, then it does not do its job as a translation.
14 mins
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not sure that this is crucial here..
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United States
Award winning Advertising/Marketing
Native in: German 
Works in: English to German, German to English
the egg-laying, wool-producing dairy pig
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Note added at 10 hrs (2012-05-12 06:34:02 GMT)
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@ Tom: Harvester is even cooler! I love it. :-)
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Note added at 11 hrs (2012-05-12 07:40:33 GMT)
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Shorter and snappier:
egg-laying Cashmere dairy pig
| nice one, after formula 1 I would add harvester, as that would make it shorter and snappier :-) |
Discussion
:-)
I like the car metaphor suggested, but that (as well as the glossary terms and earlier entries) are, to my mind, at least dusty or rusty ;-) (or even "muffig"), and they all don't cover the exploitation aspect of the (another suggestion here in the office) pluckable cash-cow-hen with wool and bacon...
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/art_literary/343...